love these little blue flowers and what a treat to have a little bumble bee visit them 

Anyone know the name of this little jewel?

Gladiolas in the early morning light.

Good morning Summer!  June 21, 2010, the morning is so beautiful with the sun rising starting at around 4:30am, the light gorgeous at 6:00am.  It’s gonna be a hot one.  Wait, is this August?  

Good Morning Summer

Solstice Light on the Veranda #1 and #2

Solstice Light on the Veranda #3 and #4

Meet Nibbles.  Nibbles came to our neighborhood last year looking for a family to love him.  He found a few nice people on one street block who fed him, named him and welcomed him on their porch but no one really claimed him as part of their family.  Nibbles was a skinny, not neutered, whinny kitty.   Then one day he took a trip to another street block, this time by the lake where birds, raccoons and ground hogs abound. He happened upon a really nice lady who took him in, gave him shelter, a safe place, took him to the vet where it was found he had worms.  This explained why he ate so much and never gained weight.  She had him neutered and now Nibbles is relaxed, enjoys the air conditioning in the hot summer and the deck in the cooler weather.  He has also learned to sing.  Well, it may not sound like singing to the human ear but he for sure gets out there and belts a tune that maybe the raccoons understand or the birds or the groundhogs, not sure.  The one thing I am sure about is this kitty is very happy and is cute as a button!

The magnolia trees are gorgeous this year full of more blooms than I have seen in years.   Each bloom is like it’s own little secret world.  The scent of the magnolia fills the air of the village. 

Chasing rainbows…. while this is a faint rainbow, one can see where it begins and ends on Old Hickory Lake.  

A glimmer of hope.

My favorite flower is the peony.  Beautiful billowy petals in beautiful shades of white and pink with a heavenly smell!  I await their arrival every year.  Have a happy day all you moms out there!

In front of my soon to be home, backlit by the afternoon sun.

Love, love, love this!!

While I was out driving today through some areas where flood waters had devastated homes I noticed a few things (other than the piles of belongings)  the bushes and trees were brown on the bottom half from all the muddy waters and lack of oxygen and there were no blooming flowers.   Here is my first installment of Optimistic (thank you Mayor Karl Dean for saying this is the new word for Nashville): the Iris.  Tennessee’s state flower.  These are from my Betsy and David’s yard and while I am not a huge fan of the iris I just love the color of these.  I love the contrast of purple and gold and that the beautiful afternoon light.  

gold, purple, pale bluish green and light, light purple

softness of the iris petal, kindness and support

strength

in the light of what was, new growth and beauty emerge making it better than it was

Actually I should say month.  So much happening  I know I am not alone in the great transition of this decade.  This spring has been exceptionally beautiful which is making the transition more enjoyable.  All the blooms are full, baby birds are hatching and the smells are amazing.  This morning I was walking down Riverside and smelled …. mmmmm sweet licorice ….. the Locust tree full of its white blooms, much like a Wisteria bloom, is very reminiscent Jagermeister.  Happy morning to me!!  

It is also such a bitter sweet time as I am leaving my house and moving on….just up the street with a lake view…. not a bad switch but still a little painful.   And this past Friday I helped my long time kitty companion make his way to kitty heaven.  We have been together for 17 years and this kitty witnessed my life all the ups and downs.  He lived quite a life!!!   I will miss you sweet Pita.   More on this later. 

I have so many flower images to share…. starting with this little white flower that popped up a few weeks ago along with violets.